The purpose of this demonstration is to reinforce concepts
about the importance of stretching and muscle flexibility.

Preparation:

Boil 2 packages of spaghetti noodles in boiling water the
night before use. Immediately after boiling the noodles, put them in a plastic
bag and refrigerate, to keep them soft and flexible for use the next day.Before using them in class, carefully
microwave the noodles to make them soft and flexible, but not so much that they
are too hot to touch. Just warm them up in 10 second increments until the
noodles are soft and flexible.Print out
the picture of the person for each student.Cut the noodles in half in order to shorten them and make them more
manageable to curl into circles.Use
different sizes and shapes of pasta if possible.

Directions:

Tell
students that you have two containers of noodles, and these noodles
represent your muscles.

One
container of noodles represents your muscles before you stretch, and the
other container represents your muscles after you stretch. You are going
to decide which container has the “muscles” that stretched.

Take a
small bunch of dry spaghetti noodles in your hand.You may give each student a dry noodle.

Remind
students that the noodle represents a muscle.

Tell
the students to bend the noodle. It will break in half.

Now
grab a handful of the boiled noodles, or you may give each student a
noodle.

Again,
remind students that this noodle represents a muscle.

Tell
the students to bend the noodle. It will bend without breaking.

Give
each student a picture of Muscle Man.

Place
a few drops of glue on a muscle mass, such as the bicep, and show the
students how to curl a noodle over the glue to make it fit on to the
bicep.

Do the
same for the triceps, abdomens, calf muscles, etc.

Discussion:

Discuss the following questions with the students.Which noodle was flexible, the first or the
second?Which noodle represents the
muscle of someone who stretched? Why?Which muscle would be less likely to get hurt: the stretched,
flexible muscle or the stiff, rigid muscle?Can your muscle really break in half like the first noodle did?